Biggest thing? He played every 5th game. For a pitcher to overcome the fact that they’re simply not on the field for most of a team’s games, they need to be positively dominant. Lee had a great season, but it was hardly something for the history books. And that’s what it takes for a pitcher.

Whats wrong with Lee? He won on average 3.67 games/month

Best ERA for a starter
Most Wins 22
Best winning percentage 88%
At one point won 11 games in a row
223.3IP
2shutouts
4complete games

He has the 3rd best winning% all time (since 1901) of a pitcher who won 20+ games

PLUS

With Lee the Indians finished at .500 – to me that screams MOST VALUABLE, he came in 12th =(

I’m just now starting to learn the less obvious strategies for and signs evident in the way the 40 man roster is manipulated. A recent link to Eddie’s site (Detroit Tigers Thoughts?) was very educational. I can’t say much about it myself, but I hope the discussion continues so that I can keep learning a thing or two.

1) It (being arm falling off)was a joke, didn’t know it offended you that much
2) Ordonez flew past me, I would have never signed him either in the first place – when he signed him I was actually upset…I agree (I think) with what you saying on that
3) LOL Cobb, I’m a fan of Inge (his play moreso than his words) Guillen and quite a few other Tigers… But I’m a fan of baseball in general and I think there were quite a few guys better than Dustin

If it were me I would have maybe chosen Cliff Lee – I think he was THE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER on any team… there were also several hitters above Pedroia (if not more pitchers) in my opinion …. some being

Josh Hamilton
Carlos Quinten
Alex Rodriguez
Justin Morneau

and others heck one could argue Aubrey Huff had a better offensive season than him….

I’m pretty sure that’s what they are hoping. Here’s hoping they are right, but it feels like he’s got Billy Beane written all over him.

I’d imagine that the Tigers are going to be adding more than 2 players and so it is still likely that Hessman could be dropped from the 40 man if they need to make room. That’s something they couldn’t do with Skelton because if he were added then waived he’d have to pass through waivers – which wouldn’t happen – and not be subjected to the rule of having to stay on the roster.

On second thought, maybe the idea is that Skelton is still raw enough that no team would be willing to keep him on their 25-man roster for a full year. I’m not sure that a gamble on being able to keep Skelton is worth Hessman at this point, but it makes a whole lot more sense that way.

I like Tango’s survey, but it shouldn’t be treated as gospel and should be used in conjunction with other metrics. Renteria should have been a defensive upgrade over Guillen. Not a gold glove level defender, but there was every reason to expect he’d been average or near average which would have been a 10-15 run upgrade. Nobody liked the price that the Tigers had to pay to get Renteria, and the move failed, but it is easy to see why the move was made. The Tigers were trying to maximize their chances to win in 08 and 09.

As for Jones, it proved to be a pretty insignifcant move, but it was also one done to upgrade defense. Jones was a plus defender for the Cubs in center and it was a low cost move to find a platoon partner for Thames. As it turned out the Tigers cut bait early and so it didn’t really inhibit anything.

And please, paragraphs aren’t evil. A whole thought can go in one block of text.

On another note, let’s keep this related to the 40 man roster moves and prospects who should or shouldn’t be on there. I know discussions can evolve, but really we don’t need to discuss the Renteria trade or Inge in every other thread. Also, this is a blog and not a message board. As such I get some say in the topic at hand.

looks like we’ll just have to disagree, but you really should try to read what i write.

“Jair’s arm fell off? I had no idea” – you
“had JJ’s arm fallen off” – me

maybe you have trouble with verb tenses. my point had been that some people regarded JJ as injury prone. given the issues with injuries the staff had been having that year, it would seem to me that trading away a possible injury liability was worth it considering Renteria’s apparent value at the time. taking his numbers (as a “failure”) in Boston as a low point he would have ranked #5 @ SS in both runs scored and batted in this year.

you mention that “It seemed to [you] like [DD] was smart and then got dumb” and list Ordonez to illustrate his former brilliance. Maggs was a huge gamble…you can tell, because its in his contract. now, to their credit the Tigers were smart enough to protect themselves with the contract, but he was coming off experimental knee surgery at the time and there was no guarantee that he would return to old form let alone win a batting title. it does help to distinguish between what we know now and what we knew then.

i do hope that science figures this cloning business out though, being able to bring your boy Cobb back from the dead would go a long way to easing your distress over MVP picks.